Collection MS 23 A2023.000.003 - Red Mountain Ski Club Collection

In 1947, talks started between the Trail Ski Club and the Rossland Ski club which resulted in the amalgamation of the two clubs. This formed the Red Mountain Ski Club (RMSC) in 1947. The immediate Objectives of the clubs were to build a chairlift up Red Mountain, a lodge at the base, and to extend the base area. Chuck Sankey was the first president of the club. The first chair lift on Red was built in this same year, and ran until 1973 when it was replaced by a Mueller lift. The Red Mountain Ski Lodge was built in the fall of 1947 using the timbers from the Black Bear Compressor House.
More area for skiing was cleared in the 1950s, and during this decade some of the prominent organisations to come out of the ski club were organised too. This includes the ski patrol, the ski school, and the start of the Red Mountain Racers. In 1960 a poma lift was installed from the lodge to the Back Trail. The Granite Mountain chair was installed in 1965 which opened up a wider area for skiing. This same year the Main Run was cleared, with Jumbo and South Side Road following the next year.
The ski area has also been the host for large events. These include the first World Cup to be held in Canada (the du Maurier International) in 1968, the Export “A” Cup, and the Shell Cup. The world cup was held at the RMSC again in 1988 (The Husky World Downhill). Additionally, the Red Mountain Racers held many different events at the Ski Hill over the years.
Many different professional athletes have trained and competed at and with the RMSC. Nancy Greene is a two-time winner of the World Cup (1967 and 1968 – winning the Giant Slalom) and an Olympic Champion (1968). She grew up in Rossland and was a member of the club. Kerrin Lee-Gartner, who won gold at the 1992 Olympics, grew up in the area and was a Red Mountain Racer.
In the 1980s, it was decided to sell the Ski Club as it was becoming much too large of an operation for volunteers to run. The RMSC and its facilities were bought by Eric Skat-Peters in 1989, though the Ski Club still ran until 1995.